A Fantastic Woman – Review

I have to be honest, writing this review wasn’t something I was looking forward. Not because I didn’t love the movie, I loved it a lot, but it affected me so much more than I expected. For two days after seeing the movie, I tried to understand why I was so affected by this movie. Yes, I am a member of the LGBTQ+ community and have suffered violence against me but my situation isn’t close to similar to the one depicted in the movie, and yet I found myself so deeply affected by it.

This movie talks about a sensitive subject, something that we never really see in film and yet happen everywhere in the world. Trans women die way too often in the world, and yet we never talk about the violence that is done to them, this movie address just that and it does it in one of the most subtle and beautiful way possible.

After her much older boyfriend dies, Marina isn’t able to mourn him because everyone around her treats her with suspicion and she must start to protect herself while trying to mourn the man she loves. With his family death set against her being able to mourn the man she loved and seeing her as a perversion because of the fact that she is trans, Marina must struggle for the right to be herself. To be the fantastic woman that she is.

Subtle and yet powerful, A Fantastic Woman is able to tell its story in a way that captivates the audience. There was something special about watching a movie that told such a difficult story in such a beautiful way. Two moments in the movie I had to actually look away because I couldn’t believe that I was watching. Tears in my eyes, I had to look away so that I could keep it together a little bit. (And I barely made it thought it.) A Fantastic Woman is subtle in a way that it never outrightly tells you what you are supposed to feel, you make up your mind and feelings but because of the way it is told you know everyone around you is feeling the pain that Marina is feeling.

Much of the reason why you can feel everything is that of how wonderful Daniela Vega is. You have to give it to her. A trans woman playing in a major movie and being open about the fact that she is trans in a country where trans right is still something people don’t believe in. She is a master in this movie, giving everything she’s got and making you feel every emotion she feels even when you have to read subtitles to understand her.

I don’t think there are enough words to describe how wonderful and beautiful this movie is. How deeply it has affected me so much. It is something to watch this movie in a room full of people where you can feel everyone around you getting uncomfortable, crying or smiling at the movie.

A Fantastic Woman is a tale of grief and acceptance that is told in such a powerful way that it will leave you wanting more but also be so deeply touch with everything you have just witness.